potted history of mahabba

The Mahabba story began in Oxford, England in 2005.

A few friends started meeting together each week to pray for God’s blessing on Muslim people in their city. God gave them a vision for how ordinary Christians in local churches could impact the lives of ordinary Muslim people around them.

Local church leaders affirmed this vision and Mahabba Oxford was born, as a network of Christians wanting to share God’s love with Muslims, including the greatest gift of love, Jesus Himself. The word ‘mahabba’ means ‘love’ in Arabic.

Prayer led on to action, as network members started to reach out to their Muslim friends, neighbours and colleagues day by day in their multi-cultural city.

They developed practical, accessible training tools (including the Friendship First course) to equip Christians to share their faith without fear and in a way that Muslim people can understand.

As some Muslims started turning to Christ, the need grew to help them become strong followers of Jesus, and for local churches to make them welcome.

A fellowship of believers from Muslim background also developed.

Over the years, Mahabba has grown beyond Oxford into a local, national and international relational network. It is not an organization or agency, nor does it run any projects.

Rather, it is a network of people who want to encourage, help and resource Christ’s followers to build bridges of love with the Muslim communities around them, clearly and sensitively unveiling Jesus to them.

In countries where similar relational networks already exist, we partner with them.